Barcelona sue Neymar for more than €10m over acrimonious transfer to Paris Saint-Germain

I am Sports Editor at City A.M. I have previously worked for the Telegraph specialising in football; now I cover all sports but am particularly interested in football, tennis and golf. Get in touch if you have a story that we might be interested in.

Follow Frank

Neymar left Barca against their wishes to join PSG earlier this month (Source: Getty)

Frank Dalleres

Barcelona have escalated their dispute with Neymar by confirming they have taken legal action against their former player in relation to his acrimonious world record £200m move to Paris Saint-Germain.

The Spanish club are demanding that Neymar return an unspecified bonus payment for signing an improved Barca contract last year, plus €8.5m in damages and 10 per cent interest on the total.

They say they have now filed paperwork with the Spanish Football Federation and expect them to pursue the claim with their French counterparts and world governing body Fifa.

“The club demands the player return the already paid sum for his contract renewal as he has not completed his contract; €8.5m in damages; and an additional 10 per cent because of delayed payment,” Barcelona said.

“The club also requests Paris Saint-Germain take on responsibility for the payment of these fees if the player cannot do so himself.”

It comes after Neymar threatened to report his former club to Fifa over their refusal to pay a loyalty bonus due to him this summer in light of his switch to PSG.

The Qatar-backed French club pulled off the transfer coup against the Catalan side’s wishes earlier this month by agreeing to pay a €222m release fee in the Brazil forward’s Barcelona contract.